Posthumus Invitation: Dr. George Hartley (1907-1977) Invited to the 1990 Candlelight Ball

My grandfather George Hartley, Jr. (1907-1977), San Diego pathologist.  From my personal collection.

My grandfather did not attend this event because he had been dead for 13 years, but it is possible that my grandmother Margaret Fister Hartley (1912-2000) went in his place--the scribbling at the upper left indicates this.  The address was hers, and far as I know he had never lived at that address (they had divorced back in 1971).  From my personal collection.

I was surprised to see this event got a write-up in the Los Angeles Times Society column:

SOCIETY

Candlelight Ball Proves a Glowing Event
December 06, 1990, by DAVID NELSON

SAN DIEGO — The Candlelight Ball treated its 511 guests gently Saturday by offering the calm, easily digested music of the Bill Shreeve Quartet during dinner. But no sooner had the plates of filet mignon been cleared than the Mar Dels took the stage to kick-start the party with their revved-up brand of nostalgic rock 'n' roll.
This change in tempo was but one of the many presents offered the guests by the sponsoring La Jolla Auxiliary of Scripps Memorial Hospital, which made "Gifts" the theme of the ball to honor both the chiefs of staff who have led Scripps' medical corps over the decades and the ball's beneficiary, the Patient Family Library.
The Candlelight, given this year in the Aventine Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency La Jolla, ranks as the city's most venerable ball after the Charity Ball (which also benefits a medical facility, Children's Hospital and Health Center). Its perennial appearance on the first Saturday of December has made it the traditional opener of the Christmas season, although competing organizations have begun seeking a share of the fruits of the season's charitable urges. 

Even though the Candlelight's Christmas trees and holiday decor no longer are the first harbingers of the season, they still reliably put ball patrons in the mood. An implicit feature of the Candlelight is candlepower measurable in multiples of 1,000 units. Saturday, the seasonal glow was supplied by double coronas of votives, both spaced around the table-tops and supported by branching centerpieces that also held gatherings of evergreens, tied with purple and crimson ribbons that cascaded down to the gold-wrapped gift boxes that set the party's theme.
The red and purple motif continued around the ballroom in the form of pennants, apparently inspired by the Middle Ages (or so it was said), while the holidays were stressed by grandly dressed trees spaced around the ballroom's perimeter.
Although gifts would seem rather an obvious theme for a Christmastime event, the idea has not been seized upon in recent memory, which gave a pleasant air of novelty to the Candlelight Ball. The theme actually was used in the abstract, in any case, as a reference to twin gifts made to Scripps Memorial by its chiefs of staff and by the La Jolla Auxiliary. 

Rae Merhar, who chaired the event, said the gifts memorialized by the ball's name were two: the gift of service exemplified by the chiefs of staff, and the gift of knowledge represented by the ball's beneficiary, the new Patient Family Library in the equally new Schaetzel Health Science and Education Building at Scripps Memorial-La Jolla.
Hospital President Ames Early said the library "will add a dimension of health care previously unavailable, which will be a tremendous resource for patients and families." It will stock titles relating to specific illnesses, diagnostic tests and medications and their side effects. Patients and others seeking specific medical information of the type not readily available to laymen will find the library arranged for "user-friendly" research. Marie Olesen, who co-chaired the event, said it would raise about $100,000 for the library. 

"The patient library is a terribly important extension of what we do in our offices," said Dr. Clyde Beck, Scripps Memorial-La Jolla chief of staff. Beck and the 11 former chiefs of staff in attendance served as the ball's honorary chairmen and wore medallions noting their service. In this group were Drs. Ernest Pund, John Cherry, James Whisenand, William Doyle, John Wells, Richard Tullis, Phillips Gausewitz, Robert Reid, F. Bruce Kimball, Everette Rogers and Donald Ritt. 

The guest list included Handy Bacon, Scripps Memorial Foundation President James Bowers, Helen and Herman Froeb, Karen and Orrin Gabsch, Lyn and Stephen Krant, Colin and Cathleen Haggerty, Kitty and Julian Kaufman, Carol and Robert Wolf, Bibs Kearney, Anne and Frank Mayer, Sandy and Peter McCreight, Pat Wade, Jacque and Roger Stewart, Jane and John Murphy, Kathleen and Peter Pieslor, Joan and James Peck, Carol and Harold Shively, Marcia and John Trombold, and Alexis and George Wesbey.
People wishing to assist needly families of military personnel stationed in overseas may participate in radio station Y-95's "Secret Santa" program by bringing new toys and articles of clothing to the Holiday Super Party to be hosted by the station this evening at the Sheraton Harbor Island hotel. 

The event, which commences at 5:30 p.m. and concludes at 9:30 p.m., will include holiday refreshments and entertainment by Jimi Jamison, lead singer of Survivor, who will perform several of his hits, including "Eye of the Tiger." The dress code is informal. "Secret Santa" donations are not required for admission, but those gifts brought will be distributed to military families by the Armed Service YMCA. For further information, call KKYY-FM at 453-9595.

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